Sponge Painting

An activity that siblings of various ages can all do together at the same time!

Recently after going through some our craft supplies I came across a bag of cut up sponge pieces that we had used for a previous activity – Alphabet Sponge Bath.

I don’t like to waste anything so I thought I would set up an invitation to play with paint and these cut up sponge pieces for my girls to play freely and in an unstructured way.

It is always interesting to see the difference each child thinks creatively as they explore the paint and sponge pieces.

Let’s Play

The activity started off with using the sponges first; Miss 2 using the cut up pieces with strokes like a paint brush and Miss 4 pressing firmly on the sponges to soak up and squeeze out as much paint in the sponge.

As the activity developed the temptation to put their hands in the paint was too great and slowly the sponges were not used at all – just hands and fingers!

Miss 6 was more focused on creating pictures with the materials provided; she used a combination of sponge pieces and finger painting.  She organised the shapes the sponges were randomly cut into to create a painted picture.  For example she used the rectangle shape sponge cut off to create the main part of a wind mill and then used her fingers for the remaining parts.

Let’s Learn 

Miss 4 was all hands and fingers in by the end of the activity; here she is practicing writing her name in the paint that she applied with her hands.

The learning benefits of this activity:

• Self-expression with paint
• Eye and hand coordination
• Fine motor development
• Experimenting and exploring with a new paint tool
• Sense of achievement and pride
• Colour recognition
• Sensory experience of exploring paint and paint filled sponges.

Tips:

To help with clean up and reduce the mess, have a cloth handy for kids to wipe their hands on as needed.  Cover areas with a plastic table cloth or newspaper and have children wear a painting smock.